Talk:KickassTorrents/Archive 1

Kickass Torrents Staff
Tonowando (talk) 06:58, 12 September 2012 (UTC) The KAT staff have been notified of this page's existence. it is my understanding that they may desire to adopt it. i have attempted to update this page. but many up dates have been removed. please contact Kickass Torrents before deleting. on the contacts list look for ; Mr White or Bubanee both KickassTorrents staff. thank you.


 * This is an encyclopedia, not a blog. KAT can not adopt a page, nor is it up to them what appears on this page.  In fact, their opinion as to what is on this page, is no more important than any random person in the universe.  Ignore the above, for this user does not understand Wikipedia.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 135.23.205.86 (talk) 13:54, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Malware-infested according to "CI Army"
http://www.iblocklist.com/list.php?list=npkuuhuxcsllnhoamkvm lists KaT as infested by malware and been for long. I believe this is valid. --rautamiekka (talk) 21:38, 8 April 2013 (UTC)


 * KickassTorrents is probably no more riddled with malware than other torrent sites. People take their own chances if they download programs with cracks, keygens etc.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 05:29, 9 April 2013 (UTC)


 * That's only 'probably'. Without someone specializing in this subject we can't assume it's clean. --rautamiekka (talk) 12:34, 13 April 2013 (UTC)

ka.tt domain
This did not last very long. It is not working at the time of writing, and TorrentFreak says that it was withdrawn due to technical issues.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 12:49, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

Belgium
The only source that I could find mentioning the block in Belgium is here, which is a forum thread on the KAT site. This may be correct, but needs a better cite. The thread also points out that kat.ph now redirects to kickass.to (.to is the Tonga top level domain).-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 05:47, 25 August 2013 (UTC)

February 2014
KickassTorrents is down at the moment for reasons that are unclear. However, since the downtime is fairly short at the moment, it is not worth giving breaking news in the article.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 07:14, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

December 2014 domain change?
Refer : http://www.reddit.com/r/torrents/comments/2oqif1/looks_like_kickassso_is_soon_changing_to_kickassla/


 * A reddit thread is something, but a source such as a KAT blog or Torrentfreak article is needed. Frmorrison (talk) 19:37, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

They Have updated it. Looking at the blog post i'm changing url and adding additional notes. https://kickass.la/blog/post/domain-name-change-december-2014/   [load the page more than 3-4 times if u dont see the post, as they are still updating their servers]
 * KAT's official site is still the .so one. Linking to a made up blog post on a copycat site isn't a proper reference. Frmorrison (talk) 03:27, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

Alexa rank
Please update the Alexa rank to 324, and make update date smaller. 85.243.244.116 (talk) 15:41, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

You can also remove " ". 85.243.244.116 (talk) 15:47, 14 December 2014 (UTC)
 * ✅ usually monthly updates by User:OKBot are enough. It would be possible to update the Alexa ranking on a daily basis, but it isn't really necessary.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 17:14, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

Who/What Owns/Operates/Sponsors Kickass Torrents?
I use the site regularly, particularly their forum. They have a huge staff, well-organized, and I find it difficult to believe that this is a purely volunteer effort, nor does it appear that the site generates much (if any) income. For posterity, I'd like to document my suspicions, why I have them as background to ask the question in the Subject/headline (above). I suspect KAT is a state-sponsored and funded organization, possibly China, North Korea or both. I have reasons why I believe this, but will not detail them at this time. Mostly I'm wondering if anyone else, particularly a "reliable source" has also had this theory.Jonny Quick (talk) 02:45, 25 January 2015 (UTC)
 * This was suggested on my talk page a while back. As I said there, I don't find the theory that KAT is run by China or North Korea very convincing, but exactly who owns and runs KAT is a matter of mystery and a black hole for reliable sourcing. The site's "About" page says "KickassTorrents or KAT is a torrent search engine launched in 2008 and is operated by a dedicated team spread all over the globe." Unlike The Pirate Bay, where there is some idea of who founded and runs the site, KAT is now the largest torrent site online and nobody knows much about who owns or runs it. It would be useful to say more in this area, but there is a lack of sourcing.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 05:40, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Known working IP addresses of Kickass.various needs to be included in main article (!)
As part of making this a complete article, domains that are know to be interfered with in terms of their DNS resolution function being "hijacked" by state authorities should have their last-known or still-working IP addresses listed in their respective wiki articles so that people can still access those sites - either directly (by IP address) or by simply entering those IP's into their computing device's HOSTS file. For example, if the following was entered into a HOSTS file:

205.204.64.122 kickass.to
 * 1) 67.212.88.10   kickass.to
 * 2) 67.212.88.146  kickass.to
 * 3) 67.212.88.146  kickass.to
 * 4) 68.71.58.34    kickass.to

Then as long as a kickass server continues to operate on any of the above IP's, a user would be garanteed of accessing it regardless of DNS interference by "authorities". As of February 16 / 2015, the above 5 IP's are currently listed for kickass.to, but only the first one will be used because the other 4 are inactive because of the use of # character. If Kickass stops using the first IP, but one of the others is still working, then the # character must be removed from the working IP and all others must be preceeded by the # character. Any application in use during the editing of the HOSTS file (such as a torrent program, web browser, etc) must be closed and restarted for hosts file changes to take effect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.93.24.119 (talk) 14:15, 16 February 2015 (UTC)
 * There is an element of original research and WP:NOTHOWTO here. It would be beyond the scope of the article to mention this unless it had been discussed by reliable sources. -- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 19:57, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

kickass.to and kat.cr
This is confusing, as both domains seem to be up and running. It is not clear which one the site regards as the official address.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 19:47, 3 May 2015 (UTC)


 * .to does still work, but latest blog post at .to says "... KAT is moving to kat.cr domain ..." --EarthFurst (talk) 04:52, 5 May 2015 (UTC)


 * kickass.to is now redirecting to kat.cr --Sanya7901 (talk) 12:37, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

on tor
Slashdot reports this site now have a stable tor address at lsuzvpko6w6hzpnn.onion — xaosflux  Talk 22:34, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

KAT Domains Seized: Information Incorrect
STOP POSTING INACCURATE INFORMATION.

Would the editors please stop people from posting misleading and inaccurate information? The only domain that the FBI seized was KAT.cr. The other domains were taken offline voluntarily by the administrators, as reported by the torrent news site Torrentfreak:

https://torrentfreak.com/can-kickasstorrents-make-a-comeback-160721/

https://torrentfreak.com/feds-seize-kickasstorrents-domains-charge-owner-160720/

The proxy sites were taken offline voluntarily after KAT.cr was seized by feds. They only seized the domain name, NOT the site itself nor the servers. Get the facts straight.

2001:558:6007:98:2160:6F19:AD5F:EC5B (talk) 17:40, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

More info to be added.
https://torrentfreak.com/images/KAT-complaint.pdf

Please add into article. Thanks. 108.162.157.141 (talk) 21:50, 21 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format.  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) 03:36, 23 July 2016 (UTC)

Offline
So if the KT website is seized, shouldn't the article state "KickassTorrents (commonly abbreviated KAT) was a website (...)" ? Just asking 178.183.175.80 (talk) 18:24, 23 July 2016 (UTC)
 * I think it would be too early, per WP:CRYSTAL. And only the domain name was seized. nyuszika7h (talk) 18:37, 23 July 2016 (UTC)
 * It is still a website, just offline at the moment. People have dug the grave of The Pirate Bay on numerous occasions but it came back again. Although WP:CRYSTAL has to be taken into account, this article on TorrentFreak suggests that a KAT comeback may be difficult due to the thorough way in which the site's operations have been infiltrated by the U.S. government. Anyway, watch this space.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 19:28, 23 July 2016 (UTC)

New url - kat.am?
https://kat.am — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hoiughiuogiugv (talk • contribs) 13:14, 24 July 2016 (UTC)
 * ❌ Not official, it's just one of the many unofficial mirrors. nyuszika7h (talk) 15:26, 24 July 2016 (UTC)

Now open new link at https://kat.am. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.73.38.51 (talk • contribs) 11.40, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Kat.am seems to have a fairly accurate mirror of kat.cr. However, there are no signs that it is officially endorsed by kat.cr, and there are tools for downloading and mirroring an entire website that allow this sort of thing to be done either with or without the owner's permission, eg HTTrack Website copier. This means that kat.am and similar sites will not be added to the article unless there is reliable sourcing that they are officially linked to kat.cr.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 13:00, 27 July 2016 (UTC)

KAT.am is now offline, and according to this TorrentFreak article it occurred after pressure from the Motion Picture Association. There may be various mirrors, but anyone who runs a site at kat.anything is likely to be targeted.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 05:38, 31 July 2016 (UTC)
 * The .am domain is Armenia, and kat.am was registered by someone named Zahir Khan in India on 21 July 2016, which is one day after kat.cr went offline. It's doubtful whether this mirror has any sort of official status, so it should be visited with caution.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 16:01, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Re this edit: the giveaway sign that a site is an unofficial mirror is that the logins do not work, and do not bring up the correct user account and all its previous forum posts, uploads etc. This is because website copying tools like HTTrack Website copier cannot access material that requires a login. This has happened before with The Pirate Bay, and although the mirrored sites were superficially convincing, the logins did not work. When this occurs, it is dangerous to hand over user names and passwords in case they fall into the hands of scammers. There is no indication that KAT is endorsing any of the current mirror sites.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 08:29, 31 July 2016 (UTC)

Adding kat.am and kickasstorrents.website
I would like to add the mirrors "kat.am" and "kickasstorrents.website" in the section "Arrest of the alleged owner" in the following paragraph now that the two are no longer up. Their popularity can be judged from various sources such as The Verge, Times of India, Venture Beat, and Torrent Freak.

Following the seizure of the original KAT domain multiple unofficial mirrors have been put online. These have no connection to the original team who have been urging users to exercise caution. A number of these mirrors—most notably the popular kat.am and kickasstorrents.website—have since been taken down.

-Corestrike (talk) 11:53, 2 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure this is really necessary. The mirrors so far have been a straggly bunch which are clearly not endorsed by the site's original owner. As noted in the section above, KAT.am is no longer online. There would be a whack-a-mole game involved in adding every kat.something domain which might last for only a few days. Also, as stated above, there is the risk of unofficial mirrors of KAT being used by scammers. So in line with WP:EL, it isnt necessary to mention any URL which is not the official one. There is also an element of WP:NOTHOWTO as it is not the job of Wikipedia articles to give advice.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 13:04, 2 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Very fair points. I was thinking over the notability of these URLs after posting myself and not long after questioned why I even brought them up.. probably just bad judgement from lack of sleep. I'll leave the above as is - thanks for the input!
 * -Corestrike (talk) 13:24, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

Kickass.cd
Re this edit: kickass.cd is a rubbish quality mirror where half of the features do not work and the forum has not been updated since July 2016. The source which mentions it is not reliable. TorrentFreak has been in contact with the people at KAT and they are not endorsing any of the current mirrors created by bandwagon jumpers who have nothing to do with the original site.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 22:29, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

katcr.co
Re this edit: some people may have got the impression from media reports that katcr.co is a fully revived version of the old KickassTorrents, but it isn't. It is not offering all of the torrents that existed on the site prior to the July 2016 shutdown. There is a range of newly uploaded torrents at https://katcr.co/new/ but they were all uploaded in December 2016, and the range is currently very limited compared to what existed on the old version of the site. The site is called "kickasstorrentsteam" and does not claim to be an exact recreation of the pre-July 2016 version, but it is created and maintained by some of the people behind the old version. The sourcing, which is mainly this TorrentFreak article, could be clearer about what the new site is and does, but it does not claim that it is an exact revival, more of a reboot. KAT as it existed before July 2016 looks like it is gone for ever, so it is correct to refer to it in the past tense.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 06:20, 24 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Okay, so if you're listing the URL of the new site in the info box, then the Alexa ranking of the old site is inappropriate. The Alexa rank of the new site should be listed. If you want the Alexa rank of the old site included (from June 2016) then the old URL that that ranking corresponds to should be listed. It's not rocket science. You can't have it both ways. Rockypedia (talk) 15:29, 19 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I put the original web address back. I may have changed it to the "new" site, but it is established that katcr.co is not the old KAT. --Frmorrison (talk) 16:16, 19 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Katcr.co is "son of KickassTorrents". It has some similarity but isn't the same site by a long chalk. The article needs to make this clear.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 17:29, 19 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Since there is opposition to this article covering katcr.co in detail, as it doesn't have the old kat database, shouldn't there be a new article, perhaps called Kickasstorrentsteam. The new site has an Alexa ranking of 6,637, which would appear to qualify it as Comparison of BitTorrent sites one of the most popular BitTorrent websites.- gadfium 20:44, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
 * There is a revival section that talks about the new KATcr website. I added a new sentence about KATcr in the opening section. --Frmorrison (talk) 22:21, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
 * A new article would include the current url, status and Alexa ranking in the infobox.- gadfium 22:50, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Re this edit: the old KickassTorrents had a huge range of torrents and user forums which were lost when the old site was raided. They have never returned, which is why it doesn't make sense to say "KickassTorrents is back online" or similar. The new site was created from a fresh start.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 05:55, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

http://kickasstorrents.to/
It seems to me that http://kickasstorrents.to/ is a full-featured revived mirror. Maybe we should add it to the article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Suncatcher 13 (talk • contribs) 21:27, 7 March 2017 (UTC)
 * The website that is linked is not an actual KAT website since it is fake, so it will not be added. --Frmorrison (talk) 22:23, 7 March 2017 (UTC)
 * kickasstorrents.to is a superficially plausible mirror site, but if you try to download any of the torrents it asks for a signup. At the time of writing, no website is offering an accurate copy of the pre-July 2016 version of KAT, and the sites that do claim to offer this are not telling the truth. Even katcr.co does not claim to have all of the user accounts, source code and torrents of the old KAT, although it is run by some of the people involved with the old KAT.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 09:53, 8 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I've already realized that. Mea culpa. Suncatcher (talk) 10:22, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

Katcr.co contains malware
Katcr.co points towards pages that contain malware, try to install extensions on insecure browsers... etc. This link shouldn't be featured on Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.152.1.37 (talk • contribs) 10:57, 9 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately, some BitTorrent-related sites link to malware and perhaps the revived KAT is no exception. That situation does not mean it should be removed from the article since it is related to the original KAT. --Frmorrison (talk) 14:23, 9 March 2017 (UTC)


 * This tends to go with the territory on torrent sites. The site itself may be OK, but it may have adverts of the "pills, porn and poker" variety which can play funny tricks with the browser. So care is needed when visiting torrent sites, such as up to date antivirus software and ad blockers. That being said, AVG doesn't report problems with katcr.co.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 16:01, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150606110328/http://kat.cr/blog/post/kickasstorrents-is-moving-to-kat-cr-domain/ to https://kat.cr/blog/post/kickasstorrents-is-moving-to-kat-cr-domain

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Semi-protected edit request on 5 December 2017
Liloeditor (talk) 17:31, 5 December 2017 (UTC) katcr.co is a fake site made by impostors of worldwidetorrents.me if you see all url id and parameters of the url is equal and they are at the same IP server, yes, it's a cruel truth, they deceived us all
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 18:42, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150225023020/http://kickass.to/dmca/ to https://kickass.to/dmca/
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